Who was the first Indian and the first Asian to be awarded a Nobel Prize?
- A.C. V. Raman
- B.Rabindranath Tagore
- C.Mother Teresa
- D.Har Gobind Khorana
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Rabindranath Tagore, who received the Prize in Literature in 1913 for Gitanjali, becoming the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in any category. He also wrote the national anthems sung in India and in Bangladesh.
Option A, C. V. Raman, won the Physics Prize in 1930 for the scattering of light named after him, which makes him the first Asian to win in a science but not the first Asian laureate overall; this is the distinction the question is built on. Option C, Mother Teresa, received the Peace Prize in 1979 for her work in Kolkata. Option D, Har Gobind Khorana, shared the Medicine Prize in 1968, by which time he was a citizen of the United States. Keep the two firsts apart: Tagore 1913 for any prize, Raman 1930 for a science.
Read the full article: Nobel Prizes: Origin, Categories and Indian Winners
Practice Questions
View allThe Nobel Prizes were instituted under the will of
- A.Alfred Nobel
- B.Andrew Carnegie
- C.Joseph Pulitzer
- D.Cecil Rhodes
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The Swedish chemist who invented dynamite signed his last will in 1895 and left most of his fortune to endow prizes for those who had conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.
Read the full explanation →In which year were the Nobel Prizes awarded for the first time?
- A.1895
- B.1896
- C.1901
- D.1913
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Alfred Nobel's estate had to be settled and the Nobel Foundation established before any prize could be given, so the first awards came five years after his death.
Read the full explanation →The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was instituted in 1968 by
- A.The Nobel Foundation
- B.The central bank of Sweden
- C.The Swedish Academy
- D.The Norwegian parliament
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Sveriges Riksbank founded the prize in 1968 to mark its three hundredth anniversary, and it was awarded for the first time in 1969.
Read the full explanation →The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in which city?
- A.Stockholm
- B.Oslo
- C.Geneva
- D.Copenhagen
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Alfred Nobel's will directed that the Peace Prize be decided by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament, while the other prizes were left to Swedish institutions, and the Peace Prize is therefore announced and presented in the Norwegian capital.
Read the full explanation →C. V. Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in which category?
- A.Chemistry
- B.Physics
- C.Physiology or Medicine
- D.Economic Sciences
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Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman received the Prize in 1930 for his work on the scattering of light, in which a part of the scattered light changes wavelength, an effect that carries his name and gave chemists a powerful method of studying molecules.
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